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COLONIA, Yap (The Yap Networker, Sept. 24) – Palau Micronesia Air, a newly formed regional airline that started service in August, has gotten the attention of Continental Micronesia and effectively caused a price reduction on airfares within Micronesia.

For the past 30 years, Continental Micronesia has been the only airline for travel between the Micronesian islands.

Continental Micronesia is a wholly owned subsidiary of Continental Airlines and is headquartered in Guam. It offers more than 290 departures each week between 22 cities throughout the Pacific Rim, the Micronesian islands and Hawaii with a fleet of 13 next-generation Boeing 737 narrow body and 767 wide body aircraft.

According to airline’s press releases, Continental Airlines is the world’s sixth-largest airline with more than 2,800 daily departures throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. Continental serves 149 domestic and 117 international destinations – more than any...

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (The National, Sept. 30) – Kulim Berhad, the Malaysian owner of New Britain Palm Oil Ltd. in Papua New Guinea, hopes to expand its operations to the Solomon Islands by early next year, it was disclosed yesterday.

The company’s managing director, Ahamad Mohamad, told the second Kulim Conference in Kimbe that the expansion is part of the vision by the group to increase its capacity as demonstrated by its growth trend over the past decade.

"We are hopeful that by January 2005, we will be expanding out to the Solomon Islands," Mr Mohamad told participants at the conference, staged at the newly built Mosa Management Center located next to NBPOL headquarters outside Kimbe town.

He said the Malaysian company started off with less than 30,000 hectares of palm oil in 1994 but has since increased to 80,00 hectares of plantations.

Mr Mohamad said the construction of the refinery at Kumbango, Papua New Guinea, last...

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (The National, Sept. 30) – Papua New Guinea has lost a lot of money through import "double invoicing" over the years, Internal Revenue Commission officials have said.

But IRC Commissioner General David Sode refused to put a figure on the loss incurred through this method of fraud by importers, saying it was difficult to do so.

Mr Sode and Acting Commissioner for Customs, Paul Iramu, appeared on the FM100 "Good Governance" Talkback Show on Tuesday night to explain the tax office's role and functions.

In double invoicing, two invoices are made for an item bought overseas and brought into PNG. The fake invoice is usually cheaper and state prices lower than the actual value on the item, which is presented to customs.

"This is where PNG is cheated out of the revenue it was supposed to have gained," Mr Iramu explained, adding that the IRC is working hard to prevent this from happening. Efforts are also...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (RNZI, Sept. 30) – The President of the Kiribati made a plea for support at the United Nations in the face of rising sea levels and the coming hurricane season.

The Associated Press reported leaders and foreign ministers from Pacific islands and the Carribean Islands of St. Kitts and Nevis raised their continuingconcerns at the UN General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting.

The Kiribati President, Anote Tong, called for equal attention to be given to the concerns of low-lying countries in the Pacific as the threat of climate change increases.

President Tong urged UN countries to ratify the 1997 Kyoto Treaty developed to reduce the production of greenhouse gases blamed for warming the atmosphere and raising the sea level.

He says the threat of climate change is as serious as the fight against terrorism.

MELBOURNE, Australia (Radio Australia, September 30) - The first complainant to give evidence in the Pitcairn Island sex abuse trials says she was raped four times by the island’s mayor, Steve Christian.

Mr. Christian, 53, is a descendant of Fletcher Christian, who fled to Pitcairn after the famed mutiny on the British exploration ship HMS Bounty. He has pleaded not guilty to six charges of rape and four of indecent assault of four women from 1964 to 1975.

Seven men face 55 charges, including 14 counts of rape, 37 of indecent assault and two of gross indecency.

The alleged victims have been giving evidence for the trial in the New Zealand city of Auckland via a video link.

One of the alleged victims broke down several times as she testified. She told the Pitcairn Supreme Court she was raped by Christian in the 1960s when she was 12 years old.

MAJURO, Marshall Islands (Marianas Variety, Oct. 1) – A tuna processing plant in Majuro is in danger of defaulting on a $2 million government-backed bank loan.

The plant has until Oct. 6 to resolve the problems or the bank will recall the loan, said Patrick Chen, president of the Bank of Marshall Islands.

The PMOP tuna loining factory, owned by Philippines, Micronesia and Orient Line president Robert Colson and other foreign investors, has been closed for more than a month because of financial problems. First opened in late 1999 and employing nearly 700 workers, the plant has been the largest private sector employer in Majuro, the capital of Marshall Islands.

But the work force has been laid off since the end of August and company officials said earlier this week they did not know when operations would resume. The plant currently has about 900 tons of frozen fish in its freezers waiting to be processed, according to manager William Fisher...

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (The National, Sept. 30) – Officials at Mt. Gagen General Hospital in Papua New Guinea’s Western Province are reporting eight to nine new cases of HIV/AIDS each day.

This amounts to 56 to 63 cases a week, with mother-to-child transmission dominating.

Provincial AIDS Council representative Apollos Yimbak warned that HIV/AIDS is spreading like bushfire, with most of those infected between the ages of 15 and 35 years. Reports attributed the rapid increase to poverty, social activities at night and the consumption of home brew and marijuana.

"Parents should talk openly about sex with their children," Mr Yimbak, who is also a HIV/AIDS counselor, said. "Open air awareness has had very little impact. Parents and churches must now take the lead to educate people about the dangers of premarital sex. Sex education needs to become an open topic in all educational institutions."

Continental flight 909, which currently operates non-stop between Guam and Hong Kong, will operate from Guam to Hong Kong with a stop in Saipan beginning November 1.

On the return, Continental flight 910 will operate non-stop from Hong Kong to Saipan and continue on to Guam. The Saipan-Hong Kong flights will operate on Mondays and Fridays and will be serviced by a next-generation Boeing 737-800. Flight time between Saipan and Hong Kong is about four hours and forty-five minutes.

The airline stated in a press release that the Saipan-Hong Kong service is among a number of service offerings to the Northern Marianas Continental is planning for this year:

"With the new routes we are planning, Continental will provide world-class, non-stop service to more destinations than any other carrier...

HAGATNA, Guam (Pacific Daily News, Sept. 30) - A clog in the transportation lines in Southern California due to labor shortages and an unusually large congestion of ships may delay holiday shipments to Guam.

Shipping out of the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports - two of the busiest ports in the nation - have been delayed by days in the past month.

Earlier in the month, a labor shortage at both ports delayed shipments, and Guam saw shipments delayed for as long as three days. Matson Navigation confirmed yesterday shipping to Guam from the two ports has meant a six- to seven-day delay.

At any given time in recent weeks, according to a Los Angeles Times report, there have been as many as 83 ships waiting for unloading, a number larger than many international navies.

It takes several days to empty each of those ships, which is twice as long as when the ports are hosting the normal traffic of less than 50 ships.

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.